Towards a Happy Ending
by The Snowman of Oz
Summary: The snow has only just been lifted from the land of Arendelle, but the newly-crowned Queen Elsa has suffered a disastrous coronation. The royal sisters of Arendelle have work to do - if they're going to find their happy ending, they'll need to reconnect with the people and navigate the political minefield of nineteenth-century Europe.
1. Chapter 1 - New Beginnings

**Chapter 1 - New Beginnings**

* * *

The bell on the clock tower in the town square stuck out twelve times as the moon reached its zenith in the night sky, shattering the silence that had fallen over the small city of Arendelle. As the minutes ticked on, the town fell into darkness as lanterns were extinguished, leaving the streets to the creatures of the night.

Yet in the castle above the city, a structure that had been closed to all and steeped in mystery for thirteen long years, a stubborn light burned brightly from a window high up within one of its towers, as if to keep a watchful eye over the peaceful town below. Earlier in the evening, conversations held in hushed, reverential whispers stated that the light belonged to the fearsome Snow Queen of Arendelle, who was standing watch in her tower throughout the night, ever ready to freeze anyone who would wish ill fortune on her subjects.

Had anybody the ability to see through that brightly lit window, they would have found the reality of the situation to be somewhat less terrifying. In fact, they would have discovered a slightly built young woman sitting on a window bay bench, her platinum blonde hair pinned up in an elaborate bun and her nose buried in a book.

While it was indeed true that the young woman in question was Elsa, the newly crowned monarch of Arendelle, she was hardly keeping watch over the city, her attention currently being totally consumed by the first book of Sir Isaac Newton's _Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica_. And while it was made clear to anybody who was in the city during the tumultuous events of her coronation that Elsa possessed the ability to summon ice and snow, it was also clear to those closest to the Queen that she had absolutely no intention of freezing anybody any time soon.

This came as a disappointment to the young monarch's sister Anna, as well as some members of the Arendelle Royal Guard, who had rather hoped to be adding a new ice sculpture in the royal gardens in the form of a certain Prince of the Southern Isles. Despite said Prince having unsuccessfully attempted to seize the throne of Arendelle by assassinating its entire line of succession, Elsa had argued that she couldn't simply go around freezing people she didn't like. Or even parts of their anatomy. As such, the thirteenth in line for the Southern Isles throne was to be escorted home at the earliest opportunity, and declared persona non grata in the Kingdom of Arendelle for his troubles.

High up in the library of Castle Arendelle, Elsa marked her place within the book and looked out the window, her attention having been drawn to a green light that flashed across the night sky. A few moments later, she was rewarded when the Aurora Borealis lit up the night sky once more.

"The sky's awake," Elsa mumbled to herself with a smile, recalling the carefree times she shared with her sister before the accident involving her magical ability that triggered thirteen long years of isolation. An isolation that had ended only with a disastrous coronation ball, and a near tragic second accident that would have claimed Anna's life if not for some sheer dumb luck and a good dose of love. As the aurora faded again, Elsa's gaze fell upon the large gates separating the castle courtyard from the bridge crossing the fjord.

In contrast to the previous years of isolation, the gates remained open, as per Elsa's order on the morning of coronation day. During the tumultuous events of the previous three days, it seems that the Royal Guard had forgotten that Elsa had ordered them shut, mere moments before her powers were revealed. Elsa had yet to repeat the order to close them, once more, mainly due to the devastating effect it would have on Anna, rather than any desire to walk through them herself. Looking out further across the fjord, Elsa turned her attention to the small city beyond.

On one hand, Elsa knew that the newly opened gates had been greeted with much enthusiasm by the townsfolk of Arendelle, who had come to view the closed-off fortification on the fjord and its rarely seen occupants as the nation's greatest mystery. On the other hand, while Arendelle was a peaceful kingdom, Elsa knew that acceptance of her rather unusual abilities would be somewhat less than universal. While Arendelle had cheered when the magical winter was lifted from the land, how long until disgruntled citizens who had lost livelihoods, property or even family members turned their anger towards the castle? With a sigh, Elsa looked at her gloved hands, before bringing her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her loosely crossed arms. Elsa needed no reminding that long unused statutes dating back to the days of the Kalmar Union declaring witchcraft as an offense were still technically on the books which could easily have her forced off the throne, if not burned at the stake. In fact, she could almost smell the smoke already.

Elsa was pulled out of her rather morbid ponderings by a series of five rhythmic taps on the library door. "Elsa? It's me, Anna," a quiet, tentative voice broke the silence.

Fighting the instinct to send Anna away as she had countless times over the years, Elsa turned her attention to the door, where she saw her strawberry blonde sister waiting outside cradling a small drinking bowl, with a hopeful, expectant look on her face.

"Come in, Anna," Elsa eventually called out, breaking the silence which had become increasingly uncomfortable and heavy as the seconds ticked by. Looking up, Elsa shot what she hoped would be an encouraging smile at her sister, beckoning her in, pushing her darker thoughts aside.

Elsa watched a smile break out across her younger sister's face, as she made her way happily across the room before pausing awkwardly, as if uncertain of what to do next.

"I was wondering if... I don't know..." Anna started.

"You were wondering if I'd let you in," Elsa interrupted gently, deciding to salvage what she could from the situation without it becoming any worse. Despite her best efforts, Elsa couldn't keep the sad, slightly resigned tone from her voice. She couldn't really blame Anna for working off thirteen years of prior form, though.

"Actually," Anna cut in with a brighter voice. "I was pretty sure you would. I mean, no more big secrets to hide any more, right?"

Elsa winced a little at exactly how wrong Anna was. There were certain secrets that remained hidden. Secrets that involved heads being frozen, and secrets involving rock trolls. Stealing a glance at her younger sister's hair, Elsa was surprised to find the white streak above Anna's right eye was no longer present. Having served as a constant reminder of the damage her magic could do if unleashed carelessly, its absence seemed to serve as a reminder that a fresh start beckoned. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be more careful.

"What I was wondering is if you wouldn't mind some company," Anna continued, before Elsa could get a word in edgewise. She had noticed the slightly pained look that had flashed across her estranged older sister's face, and decided that given recent events, it was best not to pry. At least for now. "Honestly, it looks like you could use some."

"That sounds nice," Elsa agreed. "I think I've had quite enough of being alone, for the time being."

Anna let out a relieved breath she didn't realise she was holding when she realised she wasn't being sent away. Glancing at the book sitting alongside her sister, Anna frowned a little. It was obvious to Anna that Elsa had been reading an older book from the library, its pages having that brown tint that suggested it was printed on animal skin rather than some of the more modern books printed on paper. The opened page was clearly printed in Latin, accompanied by a neatly hand-drawn diagram. Unfortunately, Anna's mastery of Latin was clearly not up to the same standard as her older sister's, so the contents of the book remained a mystery.

Anna stole another glance at the unintelligible contents of the opened page. "Is that important Queen business?"

"This?" Elsa asked, carefully closing the cover of the fragile old book, before turning her attention back to her sister, who nodded in response. "No, this isn't official business. This is fun."

"I'm pretty sure that's Latin," Anna stated deadpan, looking at the cover.

"That's because it is," Elsa confirmed. "I'm guessing you've forgotten your Latin lessons."

"Pretty much," Anna admitted. "It never seemed important. I figured French and German would be more useful."

Elsa's eyes widened slightly in surprise. While she hadn't interacted much with Anna over the years, Elsa had definitely overheard their parents lamenting over Anna's seemingly short attention span and lack of dedication to her studies. Anna's apparent linguistic talent therefore came as a surprise to Elsa, one that opened up the possibility that she might yet escape the immediate future with her head, even if the crown was probably a lost cause. "Can you still hold a conversation in French and German?"

"Mostly, I think,' Anna said, before a devious look crossed her features. _"Pourquoi demandez-vous?"_

 _"Tu peux me tutoyer,"_ Elsa replied fondly. _"Même si je suis la reine, je suis aussi ta soeur."_

"I guess I'm a little rusty," Anna admitted, her cheeks flushing a little in embarrassment.

"Actually, that was perfect," Elsa interrupted, smiling at her sister. "Could I borrow a few hours of your time tomorrow for official business? I could do with some help smoothing things over with the dignitaries. If you're not too busy, that is..."

"Wait, what?" Anna exclaimed, almost dropping her bowl of chocolate. "Me? On Queen business?"

"I don't see anyone else here," Elsa said in a slightly amused voice as she watched Anna rescue her bowl of chocolate. "Perhaps you should put that down."

"You know I'm not going to say no," Anna responded, before continuing in a slightly uncertain voice. "But are you sure? I don't want to mess anything up."

Elsa groaned unhappily at her predicament, before slumping forward and burying her head in her arms dramatically. "Anna, how could you possibly mess things up any more than I already have? Even if freezing our entire country wasn't enough, I almost impaled the Duke of Weselton, the Belgian ambassador and his wife on those ice spikes in the ballroom!"

The temperature dropped noticeably as Elsa drew in a deep, shaky breath before continuing. "I almost impaled _you_ , Anna! Then to top things off, I froze your heart!"

Elsa's voice trailed off, the silence broken only by Elsa sucking in deep breaths.

"While you're piling on the guilt, you can add having your giant snowman throw me, Kristoff and Olaf off the North Mountain to that list, too," Elsa heard Anna eventually add in a voice that sounded more light-hearted than upset. She'd known that the giant ice guard she'd created the day before had forcibly ejected Anna, her Laplander guide and Olaf from her ice palace in her panicked desire to be left alone, but not what happened after.

"Off... the North Mountain?" Elsa asked quietly, aghast at what she'd just heard. Turning to her sister, Elsa found Anna with her head cocked slightly to one side, seemingly calm and not at all upset about the situation.

"Off the really high cliff at the bottom of the hill," Anna confirmed, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly as if it was nothing. "I may have provoked it by throwing a snowball in retaliation after you asked it to escort us out of the ice palace..."

"Anna, I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be," Anna waved dismissively, before walking across to the window bay bench. "It was kind of fun, actually."

Anna climbed onto the bench next to her sister, folding her legs underneath her and sitting on her heels. Feeling the temperature drop precipitously, Anna quickly looked up at Elsa, who seemed to shrink back into the bench, a look of extreme discomfort on her face. A look of confusion crept across the face of the younger, red-headed princess. What had just happened? As far as she could tell, they were having a normal conversation, or as normal a conversation as you could have with an ice-powered sister who had hidden herself away for thirteen years, right until the point Elsa had shrunk away as if she'd seen a ghost.

From the other side of the bench, Elsa had watched on in horror as her sister had rapidly closed the distance between them, before making herself comfortable on the bench a mere arms length away. Instinctively, Elsa tried to back away to open up some personal space, but her back was already against the side of the window bay. She had only succeeded in finding a few precious centimetres more space by drawing her legs closer to her chest.

The one thing Elsa refused to do, however, was stand up and walk away from her sister. After all they'd been through, the last thing she wanted was to give Anna the impression that life would go back to the way things were before the coronation. Trying to get her mind off exactly how close Anna was sitting to her, and how easily she could get injured should some magic leak out by accident, Elsa looked out the window. Her eyes were, once again, drawn to the opened gates. Arendelle was still resting peacefully. No mobs wielding torches and pitchforks, and no stakes being erected. Yet.

A few moments later, Elsa was once again drawn out of her woolgathering by her sister's voice. "Elsa?"

Turning to face her sister once more, Elsa found Anna holding out her bowl of chocolate like a peace offering, wearing a look on her face that Elsa couldn't quite place. Silently, Elsa raised an eyebrow, only to see her sister nod encouragingly. Tentatively, Elsa took the bowl, making _very_ sure not to make any physical contact with Anna's hands. Even with the gloves, that was a step too far. This wasn't like those times earlier in the afternoon, when Anna had thrown her arms around her in reckless abandon and she'd returned the gesture in the heat of the moment, her head still spinning with adrenaline.

Elsa took a few small sips of the chocolate, savouring the sensation as the liquid worked some magic of its own, seemingly warming her from the inside out. Relaxing slightly, Elsa let out a small but audible sigh of satisfaction.

Elsa held the bowl back out, returning the chocolate to its rightful owner. "Thank you, Anna. I think I needed that."

As she reached back out to take the bowl back, Anna spread her fingers out and in a slow but deliberate motion, brushed them over Elsa's hands which were surprisingly warm. She had noticed Elsa staring out the window at the open gates, and she had certainly taken note of the way that Elsa had deliberately avoided even the possibility of physical contact when she'd accepted the chocolate bowl.

Having kept a close eye on her sister, Anna definitely didn't miss the sharp intake of breath as their fingers made contact, nor the way that Elsa had flinched slightly, before pulling her hand away and holding it to her chest. What she _had_ missed until that moment, however, was the fact that Elsa was wearing gloves. With that last bit of information, it was clear as night and day to Anna what the problem was. What had made Elsa blanch as she'd sat down, the reason why Elsa had been staring blankly at the open gates. Elsa was clearly still scared of her own powers, and as far as Anna was concerned, that wouldn't do.

"Are you alright?" Elsa asked in worried voice, panic evident in the wild-eyed expression on her face. Frost started slowly spreading out from underneath her, heading straight for Anna.

"Oh no," Elsa gasped as she saw the ice approach her beloved sister. "No, no, no..."

"Elsa, I'm okay!" Anna yelped, quickly jumping off the bench as the ice approached her and a wind started to pick up within the castle. "Look at me, Elsa!"

As she watched Elsa turn her attention to her, Anna put the chocolate down on a nearby table and held her hands loosely out in front of her body, wiggling her fingers to reassure her jittery sister. "I'm perfectly fine, see?" Anna felt the wind gradually slow as she watched Elsa compose herself, sucking in deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

"Anna, you need to be more careful," Elsa said slowly, in a quiet voice. "I still can't control it, not completely."

"I noticed," Anna said dryly, before crossing her arms and tilting her head slightly, indicating that she wasn't going anywhere. "I am slightly colder, and slightly wetter than I was a few minutes ago, after all. But that's okay."

"You know that's not the worst that could happen," Elsa stated, astounded at Anna's complete lack of fear.

"I know," Anna interrupted, cutting her sister off mid-sentence. As Elsa looked up at her, Anna smirked in response. "I simply choose not to care."

"Anna, please listen..." Elsa tried again..

"Elsa, I'm sorry, but no," Anna interrupted again, more firmly this time. "I know there's a risk I might get hurt by the ice again. I know that scares you."

Elsa nodded mutely. It seemed that Anna was far more perceptive than her carefree nature let on.

"The thing is, it doesn't scare me at all," Anna continued. "Perhaps it might, if you were someone else. You're not someone else though. You're, well... you."

"That doesn't sound like you're talking about the person who froze you the last time," Elsa muttered bitterly, bowing her head and looking back towards the floor, despondent. Unbidden, her mind was cast back to a time well before the events of the last twenty four hours. Back to the time when a innocent young girl playing in the snow had trusted her older sister to catch her as she fell, and had ended up with a frozen brain, magically altered memories and an essentially sister-less childhood and adolescence for her troubles.

As she closed her eyes to fight the tears that had started to form, Elsa was painfully aware that she was one small slip-up away from there being a next time too, and that Anna's luck might run out this time, too. The problem was that as of three days ago, she was no longer an underage monarch able to hide behind her regent, but the nation's sovereign Queen. Which meant that unless she intended to rule the nation from behind the locked doors of her bedroom and study, her old solution was no longer viable. Besides, if she was being honest with herself, Elsa didn't actually want to hide from Anna again. What she did want, however, was for her stubborn sister to trust her a little less, and to keep a safe distance away from any potentially disastrous ice-related slip-ups.

"Accidents happen, Elsa," Anna said in as patient a voice as she could muster at the moment, her face an outward picture of calm and understanding. Behind that facade, however, Anna felt frustrated to the point that she wanted nothing more than to shake her sister so hard that her teeth rattled. "Besides, that was as much my fault as it was yours. You did tell me to leave, you know. More than once, actually."

As she said this, it occurred to Anna that despite the minor ice mishap, Elsa hadn't asked her to leave this time. Anna decided that was a minor victory in itself, before ploughing on.

"Look, I know you didn't mean to do it," Anna said with conviction. "And I know you're going to say that isn't the point, but it _is_. Tell me, why should I be scared of you when I know you don't want to hurt me, and you're doing everything you possibly can to make sure you don't?"

Elsa didn't necessarily agree, but there was very little fault she could find with Anna's logic, either. Flummoxed by her sister's enduring optimism, Elsa was rendered speechless, simply not knowing what to say at all.

It took Anna to break the uneasy silence, once again. "It's okay Elsa," she said in a far gentler voice. "You're okay."

Elsa turned to face her sister, absently using the back of her gloved hands to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Anna, what am I going to do?"

"We, not I," Anna said simply. "There is no 'I' in this. You're not dealing with this alone."

Elsa shrugged, a hopeless look on her face. "I've really screwed things up, Anna. Me, not you. It may be that the only way out is for me to abdicate."

"The hell you will," Anna retorted in a voice that brooked no room for argument. "You were born to be Queen, and if I have anything to say about it, you're going to stay as Queen."

"You might not actually get a say in the matter."

"In which case, my first and only act as Queen will be to re-install you on the throne, you stinker. That's your job, not mine, and I don't _want_ it."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Elsa let out a small giggle. Abdications were a one-way process, so if she were to follow through with the abdication or be forced from the throne, Anna would be stuck with the job. At this point, however, Elsa decided that now wasn't the best time to educate her misguided sister on the finer points of Arendelle's laws of succession.

"Please tell me you haven't already abdicated," Anna asked, her eyes widening a little in alarm.

"No... no, I haven't."

"And have you talked about this nonsense to anyone else?"

"No, Anna..."

"And have you written a letter of abdication anywhere? Because I'll need to burn that!"

"Anna, you know very well that I've been poked and prodded by the royal physician all afternoon, then had dinner with you and some of the Storting straight after," Elsa replied, dramatically rolling her eyes. "I promise I've been here in the library since then."

"You didn't actually say no," Anna accused, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion.

Elsa didn't need to say anything, her guilty expression telling Anna more than words ever could. In truth, Elsa had written the letter a few years back, in the dark days after the death of their parents. At the time, Elsa had fully intended to occupy the throne for the three years it would take for Anna to come of age, before abdicating and living in the mountains alone, with her secret intact. In the letter, Elsa had proclaimed herself unfit to rule due to chronic ill health. While untrue, it was the same excuse she had given for her isolation and limited contact with Anna, and with the Storting. The letter was perfectly believable, or at least, it used to be perfectly believable until the moment Elsa froze the summer for a few days, and the true reason for her isolation became known.

Meanwhile, a horrified look crept over Anna's face. "Oh gods, you _have_ , haven't you?"

"It... it was a long time ago, Anna. After Papa and Mama left," Elsa mumbled in response.

"Elsa, you can't do this," Anna pleaded. "Not when I just got you back. You have to promise."

Elsa looked at her sister sadly. "I can't promise that, Anna. The people of Arendelle may not accept me after what I have done. I may be sovereign ruler, but I won't stay on the throne as a tyrant. I won't..."

"Elsa, please don't give up _,"_ Anna tried again, her distress obvious from her wavering voice. "Promise me that you will at least _try._ "

Elsa bowed her head, closed her eyes and sighed. "I'll try."

"Promise me?" Anna asked in a small voice.

"I promise, Anna, even if I think you'd make a far better Queen than I ever will..."

"Nonsense," Anna objected with a smile, effectively silencing Elsa's mutterings. "Like I said, you were born to be Queen. I, on the other hand, seem to have been born as comic relief..."

Anna's self deprecating humour had the desired effect of eliciting a slight chortle from Elsa, who turned to face Anna, a wan smile on her face.

"Don't sell yourself short, Anna," Elsa said after a few moments. "It's not like you could have done any worse than I have... and I'm still no closer to knowing what to do."

"Well, _I_ know what you should do," Anna said in a confident, knowing voice. "Or at least, where to start."

Elsa raised a questioning eyebrow, a genuinely interested look on her face. "I'm happy to take any suggestions at this point."

"Let me in," Anna said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Anna, you do realise you're standing right next to me. I'm not sure how much more _in_ you want to get..."

"No, silly," Anna chided with a giggle. "Not like that. I'll help you with the dignitaries, and I'll help you with the people. But before that, I want you to let me help you with _you_."

At that, Anna stepped forward and held her hands out in front of Elsa, beckoning her older sister to take them. When she saw Elsa hesitate and look at her sceptically, Anna encouraged her further. "You can't live the rest of your life terrified of yourself, or what you might do, Elsa. You can do this. I know you can!"

Inwardly beneath all her fears, Elsa knew she actually wanted this as much as Anna did. Drawing a deep breath, Elsa closed her eyes and reached out slowly towards her sister's outstretched hands. She had finally managed to work up the resolve to follow through when she was interrupted by Anna's voice again.

"Actually, wait," Elsa heard Anna's voice call out. Letting out a relieved breath at Anna's apparent change of plans, Elsa quickly pulled her hands back to her body, holding them to her chest, where she knew they couldn't hurt anyone. Elsa opened her eyes again, only to find Anna still in the same position.

"I don't understand," Elsa stated, pointedly looking at Anna's hands. "Do you want me to do this or not?"

"Of course I do," Anna stated, beaming at her sister. "But I want you to take the gloves off first."

The relieved look on Elsa's face was replaced by one of horror as soon as she realised what Anna was asking of her. "Definitely not. That's not a good idea, Anna."

Anna sighed, letting her hands drop to her side. "You do realise that they don't actually work, don't you?"

"Of course they work," Elsa said defensively. The gloves had been her faithful companions for years, shielding her unwanted powers from the world.

"But they don't," Anna protested. "When you ran away from the ball, you froze the fjord and ran across it. I'm pretty sure you didn't run all the way up the North Mountain without your shoes on."

"Well, no..."

"How about just before, when some ice slipped out and you accidentally froze the bench? The only part of you that isn't covered is your face and hair, and the ice didn't come from there."

Anna paused for a moment, before an amusing thought occurred to her. "Unless you're _going regimental_ under that dress of yours..."

"What?" Elsa gasped, looking and feeling somewhat scandalised at the apparent accusation. "I would never!"

"I'm not sure if I believe you," Anna teased, amused at the reaction of her normally composed and closed-off sister. "That ice must have come from somewhere, after all. I guess I'll need to check." As she said this, Anna picked up a fold of Elsa's dress between two fingers and made a show of lifting it slightly, as if to look underneath.

Elsa immediately tugged her dress out of Anna's grasp, smoothing it back down firmly. "Anna!"

Anna burst out laughing at Elsa's completely flustered reaction, no longer able to hold it back. "I wasn't actually going to look, you know! What do you take me for? Oh gods, your _face_!"

Elsa let out a huff. "I will have you know that I am properly attired under there."

"I would expect so," Anna said, good naturedly, before getting back to the issue at hand. "The point being, there's nothing special about linen or silk that stops ice, whether you're wearing it under your dress, or on your hands."

"No," Elsa agreed. "I suppose you're right. Everyone else doesn't know that though, so I should probably keep them on in public. I don't need people to be even more scared of me than they likely already are."

"I think I can live with that," Anna agreed, imagining the reaction of the staff and the public to an ice-powered Queen they knew nothing about. "But this isn't public. it's just me in here, so you can take them off."

"Are you sure?" Elsa asked, still uncertain about touching Anna while ungloved. Even though she knew that Anna was a willing participant in what was effectively a crazy trust exercise, Elsa would never forgive herself should Anna be seriously harmed. The fear was no longer crippling, though. It seemed that Anna had chased it away.

"I've never been more sure of anything," Anna said, a look of complete trust in her eyes as she reached forward and grasped hold of one of Elsa's gloves.

Instinctively, Elsa flinched as Anna reached for and made contact with her hand, but she willed herself not to pull away as her glove smoothly slipped off. Unlike coronation night, there was no panic, and no ice. Perhaps there was hope for her after all.

Elsa's attention was brought back to the present by Anna gently tugging at her remaining glove, before it too was removed, leaving both her hands bare. Looking up from her reverie, Elsa found Anna standing over her once more, her arms open and hands out.

"You can do this, Elsa," Anna said earnestly, sensing Elsa's hesitation at breaching this final barrier. "Think about what you felt when you unfroze Arendelle. Think about what you felt when you unfroze _me._ Think about...oh!"

Anna's motivational ramble was abruptly cut short when she felt two warm hands tentatively slip into her own. Recovering from her surprise, Anna gave them a gentle squeeze, and was gratified when the gesture was returned.

"You did it," Anna said, absently rubbing her thumbs on the backs of Elsa's hands. "Like I knew you could. It's not so bad, is it?"

"No, I suppose it isn't," Elsa replied, savouring the unfamiliar sensation of having another person's hands on her own, something she hadn't experienced for over ten years. "It's quite pleasant, actually."

"You may as well get used to it," Anna said, not skipping a beat. "Because I'm never letting you go again."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

The one thing I've always found a little unsatisfying about Frozen is that its conclusion skips over how Elsa transformed from someone who had spent the majority of her life effectively scared of herself, to the person we see in the final ice-rink scene. I've always felt there was a song missing there charting Elsa's path to her own "happily ever after", showing sequences of her repairing her relationship with Anna and becoming more comfortable with the magic.

This small detail has finally bugged me enough to attempt to fill this small hole with fanfiction. I found this curiously difficult to write - in particular, I had some trouble writing Anna in a form that's representative of her animated Disney character's speech and mannerisms (as opposed to the Elizabeth Lail/'Once Upon a Time' TV version of Anna). Hopefully, I've done a good enough job to keep the fandom happy.

Below are some notes that might shed some light on some things I've referred to (either directly or implied) in this ficlet:

1\. The book Elsa is reading when Anna enters is the first of three books of Sir Isaac Newton's famous work which, despite its name, relates more to physics than mathematics and is effectively the birthplace of the classical mechanics that many of us learn in high school. The first book contains Newton's famous three laws of motion. Like many important scientific works of the period, it was written in Latin. The early copies are likely to have been printed on vellum (an animal skin product) when the work was first published in 1687 - vellum was much more durable than the paper stock of the time, so this was a matter of practicality for long-term archival rather than anything sinister. I'm certainly not the first fanfic author to depict Elsa as a science nerd, but given her ice castle has flying buttresses supporting the outer walls, it's pretty much a given she has a decent understanding of statics - perhaps Elsa could have pursued a career as a structural engineer if she wasn't the Queen of Arendelle. For those who like their Frozen fanfiction laced with science, I recommend _Magic Makes Fools_ by CrunchDeNumbers _,_ which is also hosted on this site.

2\. Elsa's fears about being burned at the stake by the people of Arendelle aren't completely unfounded. It seems to be common consensus that Frozen is set somewhere in Scandinavia around the time period of the 1830s or 1840s. This means it would only have been about 40-50 years since the last official witchcraft trial in Europe which resulted in two unfortunate women in the town of Poznań in Poland being burned at the stake in 1793. Unofficially, lynchings of accused witches continued well into the 1800s. Although witch burnings have captured the public imagination due to their barbarity (and likely the association with Jeanne d'Arc), accused witches were actually far more likely to have been tied up and thrown into the local river to "test" the accusation. Simply being accused of witchcraft was a death sentence - the accused would be declared innocent if they sank (and drowned), and guilty if they floated, in which case they'd probably end up being lynched anyway. Elsa, for all intents and purposes, is an actual ice witch - in this context, it's hardly surprising that her parents hid her inside the castle - they were actually right to interpret Pabbie's warning the way they did. After all, it's not like the people of Arendelle (apart from Anna) actually disagreed with the Duke of Weselton when he called her a monster.

3\. Elsa's position as Queen wouldn't have saved her, either (although they'd have to get through Anna, first). The 1830-1840s setting of Frozen puts it right in the middle of a period of political upheaval and revolutions in Europe, so Elsa is more than justified in feeling rather uncomfortable on the throne given the disaster that was her coronation. For example, in 1830 alone, the Bourbons (who themselves had ruled for only fifteen years after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo) would be deposed by the July Revolution in France, Belgium would secede from the Netherlands and declare independence, Greece would formally be declared independent from the Ottoman Empire while Poland would unsuccessfully attempt to secede from Russia.

4\. The Storting is a real thing - it's the national parliament of Norway. Given the time period, it's unlikely that Elsa would have had absolute power over Arendelle, but as monarch, she would likely still have significant executive power closer to that wielded by the current-day role of the President of the United States, rather than the limited powers of the current-day role of the constitutional monarch of the Commonwealth realms (currently Queen Elizabeth II).

5\. Royal abdications are serious business. While it seems commonplace in some countries for the monarch to retire by abdicating in favour of the Crown Prince/Princess, this practice is a recent phenomenon from post-World War II Europe (excluding the United Kingdom). Mostly, monarchs are expected to die on the throne, although there is some historical precedent to monarchs retiring due to extreme ill-health.

6\. The phrase "going regimental" is almost certainly a reference to the attire (or the lack thereof) of the Scottish Regiments of the British Army, and is quite possibly period accurate, even if it's not geographically accurate.

7\. Last, but not least - I'm hoping the question Anna asks in formal French can be translated as "Why are you asking?" (as opposed to the informal "Pourquois demandes-tu?"), with Elsa's response being "You can address me informally. Although I am the Queen, I am also your sister." I'm imagining that Anna would be far more familiar with formal French, given she would have been tutored to communicate with diplomats and other nobles. If the above is wrong (my working knowledge of French is rudimentary at best), I'm happy to take any corrections from any French speakers out there on notice and edit the chapter accordingly.


	2. Chapter 2 - First Steps

**Chapter 2 - First Steps**

* * *

As was their usual practice, the staff of Castle Arendelle had risen with the sun and had gathered in the kitchen to receive their instructions for the day from Kai, the Chief Steward and Gerda, the head of household staff. As per the former King's instructions over a decade ago, the castle ran on a reduced but still adequate number of staff, making the daily delegation of tasks a necessity, rather than a mere formality. On a typical day, the staff were well up to the job, being familiar with their routines and possessing an esprit de corps borne of being tasked with serving the Royal Family of Arendelle.

However, this was not a typical day. The magical storm that had blanketed Arendelle meant that dignitaries representing different nations across Europe were still resident in the castle, while the relief effort had reduced, but not completely depleted the supplies of the kitchen pantry. As such, after the daily tasks had been distributed and Kai had left to check on the guests, the kitchen had exploded into a hubbub of activity, with the staff frantically preparing the morning meals for their honoured guests.

It was no surprise, then, that the staff had initially missed the presence of a certain red-headed princess waiting patiently in the corner of the kitchen. Known colloquially by the staff as "Anna's corner", the space had been cleared out by the late, but much loved former Queen as a safe place for her youngest daughter after a close call with a pot of boiling lamb stew. Throughout her childhood, Anna had spent countless hours watching the bustling kitchen activity and making friends with the staff, although they could never really fill in the loneliness caused by the extended absence of her sister. While the space was no longer strictly necessary, Anna had become accustomed to the space, and over the years had come to view it as her own.

"Princess Anna!" Gerda called out in surprise, having spotted the familiar shock of red hair in the corner. While Anna was a regular in the kitchen, she was also known to be a late riser and as such, her presence in the kitchen at this hour was almost unknown. Gerda quickly made her way over to the corner. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you earlier. Were you in need of something?"

"It's fine," Anna said with a smile, waving dismissively. "I know I'm quite a bit earlier than I usually am, after all. Would it be too much of a bother if I borrowed a few minutes of the staff's time?"

Gerda regarded the young princess curiously upon hearing the request. "You have never been a bother, and your visits are always welcome. Was there anyone in particular you were after?"

"I was hoping to speak with...well, everyone," Anna replied. When she noticed Gerda look at her questioningly, Anna explained further. "You see, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce Elsa to the household staff."

Gerda's head whipped around, only to see the door to the kitchen firmly closed. Letting out a sigh of relief, Gerda turned back to Anna. "That sounds like a lovely idea, Princess Anna. When will we be expecting Her Majesty to visit?"

"Actually, she's right outside," Anna replied, gesturing towards the closed door where she'd left Elsa in the hallway while she gathered the staff. "Sorry for the short notice," Anna added sheepishly, cringing a little at her lack of foresight and organisation when Gerda gave a small gasp, her hand flying up to cover her mouth in surprise.

"That's quite all right, Anna dear," Gerda reassured the young princess, before looking uneasily at the door. "It is no matter now, although it would be best not to keep your sister waiting."

Fishing into her uniform, Gerda retrieved a small bell and rang it loudly, which was the signal for everyone to cease their activities to receive new instructions. The staff were as well drilled as the Royal Guard, and within a minute, everyone had assembled at the front of the kitchen. The staff looked curiously at Gerda, obviously perplexed at the interruption, given that they had only received their instructions for the day not long earlier and the honoured guests of the castle had yet to be fed.

"Apologies for the unusual interruption," Gerda stated in a business-like voice once the hushed whispers of the staff died down. "It just came to my attention that we have a special visitor to the kitchens this morning."

Anna cleared her throat and self-consciously tucked a lock of errant hair behind her ear as the staff turned their attention towards her. "Thank you, Gerda," Anna started, raising a hand and waving at the small crowd nervously. "Hi everyone! I'm not the special visitor, of course. I'm pretty sure everyone already knows me, but in case anyone was wondering, I'm Princess Anna. Or just Anna, if you'd prefer. I would like to think we've all known each other long enough to skip past the royalty thing..."

Anna cut herself off mid-ramble when she noticed Gerda giving her a pointed look, before glancing at the door.

"Oops, back on topic," Anna said quickly. "You see, the thing is that while you've all come to know me over the years, I'm not actually the only member of the royal family. As you're all aware, I have an older sister, who I would like you all to meet."

A few gasps rose from the assembled staff as they realised who the visitor Gerda had referred to would be. A few standing near the front started fiddling with their uniforms nervously, checking that all was in order. Anna raised her hand slightly to gain their attention once more.

"Yes, she's the Queen, and yes she can do the snow thing," Anna said, having decided to address the elephant in the room upfront. "Obviously, I can't say that the snow's harmless, given what's already happened. What I will say is that she really doesn't want to hurt anyone with it."

A quiet voice piped up from the crowd. "Did you know, Princess Anna?"

"No, I didn't know," Anna explained, shaking her head slightly and smiling sadly. "She never told me, either. What I do know is that we talked a bit last night and once you look past the fact that she has weird magical powers, Elsa's really not so different from you and me."

Anna noticed more than a few sceptical faces looking back at her, although none seemed to be openly hostile. Inwardly, Anna hoped that wasn't just the staff being polite, because if so, Elsa would have a next to impossible task with the people.

"Look, I know we've all had a rough time over the last few days, but please, give her a chance," Anna added. "It hasn't been easy for her, either."

At this, Anna walked across to the door and pulled it open, revealing Elsa standing patiently in the hallway, her attention seemingly elsewhere. When she noticed the look of surprise flash over her sister's face, Anna realised belatedly that she had forgotten to announce Elsa, as Kai had done for both of them during the coronation ball.

Having taken a few moments to recover her composure after the door had suddenly opened in front of her, Elsa walked into the room and stood beside her sister, looking out at a crowd that seemed to be as apprehensive as she was herself. Turning to Anna, she silently raised a questioning eyebrow, trying to gauge the mood of those assembled in the room. Apart from Gerda, who she knew best out of all the staff present, none of them seemed particularly happy to see her.

Looking down at the floor, Elsa gave a barely audible sigh of disappointment, clasping her hands together uneasily in front of her. The way things were going, she wanted nothing more than to turn around, walk back upstairs and forget this morning ever happened.

"It'll be okay, Elsa," Anna whispered, before offering her hand for Elsa to take as support if she wished. "I've got you."

Elsa accepted the offer gratefully, tentatively putting her hand in Anna's and receiving a tight, but not painful squeeze in return. It was a simple gesture from her sister, yet one that meant the world to Elsa right now, reassuring her that no matter what happened, she could count on Anna to watch her back. It was also a gesture that elicited a few more audible gasps from the assembled crowd, who had received clear instructions over the years that the older of the two royal sisters valued her personal space greatly and should rarely be approached, and should never be touched under any circumstances.

"Your Majesty," Gerda addressed Elsa in a kind voice, sensing the tension in the room that had formed between the young queen and her staff. "It's lovely to see you out of the royal quarters."

"Thank you, Gerda," Elsa replied in a stilted voice that betrayed her unease. "For your patience and kindness over the years. I am more than aware that your job, and that of your staff, has been made far more difficult on my behalf."

Gerda smiled at this, nodding her head deferentially to the young monarch. "You are more than welcome, your Majesty."

Taking another glance at the apprehensive crowd, who were starting to fidget and murmur amongst themselves, Elsa turned back to Gerda anxiously. "Gerda, the staff," Elsa trailed off and swallowed nervously, feeling a little sick in her stomach. "Did they lose anybody during the storm?"

"I do not believe so, your Majesty," Gerda reassured Elsa, as best she could. "The people of Arendelle are a hardy bunch, and while the winter was unexpected, Arendelle has seen more violent winter squalls in the past."

Turning back to the staff, Elsa took a deep breath and prepared to address them, only to find to her horror that her mind had gone blank, the small speech she had intended to deliver forgotten. Instinctively, Elsa tried to pull her arms in on herself as was her habit when nervous, only to be stymied when Anna's grip on her hand tightened further.

"Good morning to you all," Elsa started, stalling for time as she gathered her thoughts. It occurred to Elsa that while the staff seemed to be understandably wary about her, they harboured no such feelings towards Anna, and looked towards her with a certain amount of affection. That was seemingly something she had in common with the staff, and some common ground to build on.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for looking after my sister while I was... indisposed," Elsa continued in a quiet, but sincere voice. "I feel I owe you all a great debt."

Elsa bowed her head slightly for a few moments, before addressing the crowd once more. "It is obvious that some of you have some misgivings about me. While I wish that were not the case, I can hardly hold those feelings against you. After all, despite working in the castle for many years, you barely know me. And the little that you do know is frankly terrifying."

Anna turned to Elsa, her eyes full of concern and worry. Her sister seemed to have abandoned the speech they had agreed on yesterday evening, and seemed to be making its replacement up as she went along. Anna herself was no stranger to speaking from the heart, a practice that often resulted in a somewhat incoherent ramble. However, Elsa had just described herself as _terrifying_ , which to Anna, was only one small step away from calling herself _dangerous_. Honesty was always therapeutic and probably a good thing in Elsa's case, but Anna had heard enough and decided to step in before Elsa inadvertently did some actual damage.

"If I may add something," Anna interrupted, looping her free arm around Elsa's waist and drawing her closer, an action which elicited a startled squeak that the young Queen couldn't quite stifle and a minor, almost imperceptible drop in temperature. With Elsa's body now pressed against her own, Anna could feel her shaking slightly. "Please try to remember that most of you have worked in this castle for years. If Elsa wanted to hurt any of you, she would have done it already."

Anna took a moment to steady herself before continuing. She hadn't prepared this speech beforehand, and given the delicate situation, half-baked rambling simply wouldn't do. "Instead, as far as I know, until the coronation ceremony, Elsa hadn't been out of the royal quarters for over ten years. I can tell you that she's spent most of that time locked away in her own room. God knows how many times I tried to get her to come out, but it seems Elsa here is more stubborn than I am."

As she said this, Anna jokingly pouted at Elsa. This had the intended result of drawing a few quiet, suppressed chuckles from the crowd, who were more than familiar with how stubborn the red-headed princess could be when she put her mind to it.

"Sorry," Elsa whispered loudly, the edges of her lips quirking up slightly as her spirits too were buoyed by Anna's antics.

"She wouldn't have done that if she didn't care about you all," Anna added, pausing for effect. "She does, so very much. Even if she isn't so good at showing it and would never say so herself."

Elsa's face flushed a little with embarrassment as she glanced across at Anna, who simply smiled back and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Thank you, Anna," Elsa said after waiting a few moments to make sure her younger, more charismatic sister didn't wish to add any more on her behalf. "What I was going to say earlier is that it has never been my intention for anybody to come to harm as a result of my abilities. Not that I imagine my wishes would matter to anyone who has suffered any loss over the last few days. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Elsa bowed her head and closed her eyes, clearly remorseful. "One of the oaths that a monarch swears upon their coronation is to protect Arendelle and her citizens against all threats, be they external or internal."

Elsa could sense Anna's eyes trained on her, moments after the words had left her mouth. This was not something they had agreed to last night, and Elsa knew that Anna would be unimpressed, to put it likely. Opening her eyes and raising her head once more, Elsa met the gaze of her staff, who seemed to be anxiously waiting for her to continue.

"Clearly, I have failed in this regard, and I accept full responsibility for my actions, whatever that may entail. Words cannot begin to describe the shame that I have brought upon myself, nor can they describe my determination to make amends."

Elsa took a small step forward, an action that caused Anna to stumble a little as she was initially caught unawares. Moments later, Elsa felt Anna's arm tighten around her waist, as if she were afraid that Elsa would run for the North Mountain again, if given the opportunity. "I do not expect many to trust me at this time, nor do I deserve it. Earning the trust of each and every one of you is my own cross to bear, and my only request is that if any of you harbour any ill will towards me, that you spare Anna. My actions were mine alone, and they should not reflect poorly on my sister."

A few hushed murmurs and whispers broke out around the kitchen, which Elsa did nothing to silence. If her own staff were to pass judgment on her, so be it. As she had mentioned moments before, she was ready to accept any consequences that arose as a result of her loss of control. Absently, Elsa thought of the words of wisdom that the elderly troll had given her all those years ago, that fear would be her enemy. Elsa also thought of the advice her father had given her, to conceal her powers at any cost.

Having failed at concealment in the most public way possible, Elsa suspected that she would find out the price of that failure, not too long for now. Forlornly, Elsa hoped that the people of Arendelle wouldn't fear her, as the Duke of Weselton had.

It eventually fell to Gerda to break the tense stalemate. "Thank you, Your Majesty. I'm aware that you have quite a busy schedule today, but if you could spare a few more minutes, I'm sure the staff have a few questions."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, will it Elsa?" Anna answered quickly, before Elsa had the chance to even start formulating an excuse. Anna was fairly certain that Elsa wouldn't have appreciated her intervention, a suspicion which was confirmed with the slightly frustrated look Elsa shot in her direction. However, Anna knew that if Elsa were given the option to leave right now, there was a distinct possibility she would never return. As such, Anna decided, there and then, that it was far better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

"That would be fine," Elsa reluctantly agreed, gritting her teeth a little.

"Wow, even I can feel the enthusiasm," Anna muttered under her breath in a deadpan voice, again provoking a few nervous titters around the kitchen from those close enough to hear.

"Your Majesty," a tentative, unidentified voice piped up from within the crowd. "Will the castle gates stay open?"

"Yes, they will," Elsa confirmed after a few moments. After thinking about it at length the previous evening, Elsa had decided that despite a few personal misgivings, she could no longer in good conscience keep the castle walls between Anna and the people of Arendelle. The closed gates had also added considerable hardship to the castle staff, something which Elsa could eliminate with a stroke of the rather nifty new fountain pen she had been given as a coronation gift. "You will all be able to come and go as you please."

Out of the corner of her eye, Elsa noticed Anna's eyes widen in surprise and her mouth open slightly. They hadn't explicitly discussed this last night, but Elsa thought she'd given the impression that things were going to be different from how they had been before the coronation. Elsa suspected that Anna's attention had been occupied by another door which had been opened. One that was very much inside the walls of the castle.

"Yes, Anna," Elsa added with a small smile. "That includes you. Although in your case, I'd feel much better if you didn't go out alone by yourself."

In fact, it would have suited Elsa just fine if Anna took half the Royal Guard with her. While Arendelle was generally a safe, peaceful town, Elsa was certain that her magical outburst had created enemies amongst the people. Enemies that would almost certainly stoop to harming Anna in an attempt to get to Elsa if given the opportunity.

Anna suddenly tightened her grip on Elsa excitedly, pulling her off balance slightly. "Really, Elsa?"

"Yes really, Anna. You've been stuck in here on my behalf for too long," Elsa said, looking at the young redhead fondly. "You should be able to broaden your horizons a little. Just take a few of the Royal Guard with you, okay?"

As Anna nodded happily, Elsa turned her attention back to the staff waiting for the next question. Inwardly, Elsa hoped it wouldn't be about her abilities, although she was sure the topic would come up eventually. As it turned out, the next question wasn't directed to her at all.

"Princess Anna," a young bonneted maid spoke up from the back. "What actually happened when you were away? They said that you had another row with Her Majesty and she hit you..."

"Frida!" Gerda scolded as she saw her monarch wince at the very raw, recent memory. "That was not an appropriate question to ask the Princess!"

"Actually," Anna added, turning to Gerda as she felt Elsa's body tense up in her embrace. "It's okay. I'd have wanted to know, too. I don't know what people have heard already, but it's probably better they hear the truth from us firsthand."

Anna glanced across at Elsa, who seemed to be studiously studying an empty space on the floor. It seemed to Anna that this was something her sister also needed to hear, too, even if only to lighten the burden of guilt she seemed to be carrying.

"Elsa, when you left Arendelle, you thought that you had taken the storm with you, didn't you?"

Elsa looked up sharply at Anna, a guarded look on her face. While Elsa trusted Anna implicitly, they were encroaching on a topic that she didn't particularly wish to revisit soon. As Elsa hesitated, she felt Anna squeeze her hand again, as if to give her courage.

"Tell them, Elsa," Anna prompted encouragingly. "What you told me when I found you up in the mountains."

"I... I'd never created a storm like that before, and I didn't know how to stop it. I guess I was hoping that if I could get far enough away from the town, I wouldn't hurt anyone," Elsa said in a quiet voice. Looking across at Anna, a sad, pensive look crossed Elsa's face. "As it happens, that didn't work out very well."

"You see, when I finally caught up with Elsa up in the mountains, she didn't actually know that it was still snowing down in Arendelle, and the fjord was still frozen solid," Anna explained. "So when I told her what was happening down here, she didn't take it very well."

Anna paused for a few moments, waiting to see if Elsa wanted to add any words of her own. When none were forthcoming, Anna continued. "When Elsa panicked, she created this small blizzard spinning around her like a whirlwind. Then it just stopped suddenly with this loud noise and a really bright flash of light, almost like lightning. That was when something hit me."

"I don't remember much," Elsa added in a small voice, shaking her head a little. "I recall Anna telling me that I'd buried Arendelle in snow, and then the next thing I know, she's on the floor." Elsa took a few seconds to compose herself, absently wiping away some tears with the back of her free hand. "Anna said she was fine, but I knew I'd hurt her badly. I still don't really know how it happened."

Anna smiled sadly at the staff as she heard the pain in Elsa's voice. "The thing is, she wasn't even looking at me at the time. We never had a fight up there, and even if we did, Elsa would never hurt me on purpose. Or anyone else, for that matter."

Elsa couldn't help but disagree with that last statement, although she kept her mouth shut. After all, she had been literally seconds from killing both of the Duke of Weselton's men, and unlike the incident with Anna, she _had_ been completely aware of what she was doing. If not for a last minute appeal by a certain Prince of the Southern Isles to her humanity, she would have become a murderer. The fact that the very same person who made that appeal would go on to callously leave Anna to freeze to death, and then make an attempt on her own life, struck Elsa as especially ironic.

Unbidden, the thought that it might actually have taken a monster to recognise one, crept into Elsa's consciousness. The feeling of distaste that followed was unpleasant, to say the least.

Yet another squeeze brought Elsa out of her thoughts back into the present. It seemed that one of the staff had asked Anna how exactly she had found Elsa in the mountains in the chaos immediately following the coronation ball. It was actually the first question Elsa had asked herself when Anna had knocked on the door of her ice castle up on the North Mountain. Elsa presumed that the Laplander that she'd seen briefly in the ice castle before she'd ejected them both with her super-sized snow guard had something to do with the matter.

"Surprisingly, it actually wasn't that difficult to figure out which way Elsa had gone," Anna started explaining. "When I was in the woods, I could tell that the snow had come from a certain direction, from how the trees were coated on one side, but not the other. So I kind of... followed the snow, until I reached this trading post. I think it was called Wandering-something?"

"Wandering Oaken's, Princess Anna" one of the staff helpfully supplied. "Up at the foot of the mountains east of here. It's always packed with skiers during the winter."

"Yes, that's it, Wandering Oaken's Trading Post," Anna confirmed, cringing inwardly with embarrassment at the revelation that the trading post was _east_ of Arendelle town. If not for bumping into Kristoff out of pure luck after hours of travelling in the wrong direction, Anna realised that she may not have found Elsa at all, ice castle or not. "I met an ice harvester there, who helped me the rest of the way above the forest into the mountains."

Anna also decided it was probably best not to reveal that they'd subsequently also received directions from Olaf. After all, the idea was for the staff to see Elsa as something _other_ than an ice sorceress that had a somewhat questionable control over her abilities, and Anna was acutely aware that Elsa's ability to conjure living, sentient snowmen out of thin air would make that task significantly more difficult. Especially if they were to find out about the large, angry snowman near the summit of the North Mountain.

"It also helped that Elsa wasn't exactly hiding, either," Anna continued. "She built this massive palace out of ice up in the mountains. It's seriously taller than Castle Arendelle. And it's beautifuller... I mean, even more beautiful, too."

"It's not that big," Elsa mumbled self-consciously, her face reddening a little at Anna's praise. "It only has a few rooms, really."

"And a fountain," Anna gushed. "And it has ice chandeliers that glow!"

"Perhaps Her Majesty would allow us to visit some day," Gerda suggested, her own curiosity piqued by the suggestion of an ice palace somewhere in the mountains.

"Perhaps in time," Elsa said noncommittally, although she had to admit the idea had some merit. The ice castle was one of the very few tangible examples of the beauty of her abilities, as opposed to the ugly, fear-driven side the citizens of Arendelle had already seen. If Anna's initial reaction on arriving there was any indication, a visit to the ice castle might help in convincing the people that her abilities could be used for good, as well as for ill.

However, the ice palace was also a very private place. As long as it stood, it would serve as a monument to the moment Elsa had re-embraced the magic without fear, and had subsequently found out what she was really capable of. However, the palace would also stand as a reminder of the great danger her abilities brought to Arendelle, of the fact that she might be condemned not just for what she had done, but for what she might do.

"But you'll think about it?" Anna piped up in a hopeful voice. Even though she'd already seen the palace, Anna hadn't had the opportunity to explore during her previous visit. Besides, her attention at the time had been occupied by the palace's sole resident rather than the palace itself.

"I will consider it," Elsa confirmed in a more conciliatory tone, having also noticed more than a few hopeful faces amongst the staff. "However, the building has suffered some amount of damage, so I will need to make a number of repairs to ensure it is safe for visitors. The entire building is made from ice, and we are in the middle of summer, after all."

Despite Elsa's best attempts at deflection, Anna had her suspicions that the damage to the ice palace was not the result of the return of summer. The palace was a large, solid building, erected well above the snow line on the North Mountain, so if it was already in need of repair mere days after being erected, it must have been damaged by something other than the warm weather. Anna shuddered slightly at the sudden revelation that Elsa's return to Arendelle may not have been entirely voluntary.

Meanwhile, as she studied the faces of the staff, Elsa noticed a hand being timidly raised by a young member of staff. As she turned her attention to its owner, a young girl around the same age as Anna, it was rapidly withdrawn.

"Did you have a question?" Elsa asked kindly, once they had established eye contact. "You had your hand raised before."

"N-no, Your Majesty," the young maid responded, the blood draining from her face. She was clearly intimidated at the prospect of speaking with the queen, and had seemingly lost her nerve altogether.

"It's alright," Anna prompted again gently. "You can ask if you want. We won't bite."

Anna watched as the young girl shot a brief, fearful glance at Elsa, before shaking her head wordlessly in response. Anna recognised her as the maid assigned to assist Gerda with the cleaning and upkeep of the royal quarters, and endeavoured to talk with her when the opportunity next arose. Anna supposed she might have better luck getting the young member of staff to open up in a more private environment.

The ring of Gerda's small bell brought Anna back out of her thoughts. "While I'm sure you all have more questions, I believe we have taken more than enough time out of Her Majesty's schedule," Gerda said, bringing the gathering to a close. As the staff returned to their tasks, Gerda turned towards the two royal sisters and bowed her head deferentially. "Thank you both for your visit."

"Thank you, too, for your time," Elsa responded, nodding respectfully once more at her head of household staff.

"You are most welcome, Your Majesty" Gerda accepted graciously. "Will we be seeing you again?"

Elsa looked across at the staff, who were still visibly uncomfortable with her presence, although some of the more overt tension in the room had abated. "Will you have me?"

Elsa winced a little at the obvious anxiety that was apparent in her voice. Not to mention the ridiculousness of the question, given that as the Queen of Arendelle, she was permitted anywhere in the castle.

"Of course we will," Gerda smiled supportively, before stepping closer to the young monarch, lowering the volume of her voice. "The staff are nervous, Your Majesty, because they do not know you, only what you are capable of."

"You don't seem nervous," Anna observed, regarding the matronly figure who had in many ways served as a surrogate mother to her after the death of the former King and Queen of Arendelle on that fateful journey three years past.

"I have little reason to be, Princess Anna," Gerda replied, chuckling at Anna's observation. "Less, even, than you do. Yet..." Gerda trailed off, gesturing towards the two royal sisters, literally joined at the hip.

"But that's different!" Anna exclaimed.

"Is that so?" Gerda asked kindly in response. "I was hired to the castle many years ago, well before the gates were shut. I knew your mother well, and have known both of you since you were infants." Gerda paused for a few moments, reminiscing about a loving mother, two inseparable siblings and the terrible secret that drove them apart. "Of course, I have seen far more of you than I have of your sister for quite some time now, but I have seen enough to have formed the firm opinion that Her Majesty does not have a bad bone in her whole body."

Gerda paused and looked meaningfully at Elsa, before continuing. "No, it is not so different."

"No, I suppose not," Anna agreed, smiling at the affection evident in Gerda's voice. Even after the years of isolation, it seemed that Elsa would always have a friend and ally in her head of household staff. "So, Elsa doesn't bother you? The ice and snow, that is, not Elsa herself, because I don't think she's bothered anyone for ten years..."

Gerda laughed at Anna's rambling speech. "No, Her Majesty's ability to create ice and snow does not bother me, any more than the fact that both you and Her Majesty favour your left hands," Gerda replied, referencing a quirk common to both royal sisters. "Although even that would upset the delicate sensitivities of some," Gerda added, after a few moments.

"Why would anyone get upset about _that?_ " Anna asked, incredulously, to nobody in particular. "It's not like the hand I pick up a quill with affects anybody else."

"As true as that may be, Anna, there are some who would get upset," Elsa said, taking the opportunity to inject herself back into the conversation now that the eyes of the entire staff of Castle Arendelle were no longer trained on her. "Enough, even, that I've learned to write with my right hand too, just in case I ever need to sign a trade agreement in public."

Anna's eyes widened a little in surprise. "That's actually kind of impressive. Mama tried to teach me how to do that, but it always came out funny."

Elsa shrugged a little in Anna's arms and smiled sadly. "I had a lot of time to practise, remember?"

"So this superstition is a real thing?" Anna asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Many believe the left side is clumsy and improper. Some say that the left hand does the devil's work," Elsa explained, patiently. "It is an old tradition, dating back hundreds, if not thousands of years. It's even worked its way into the languages of most of Europe."

"That's ridiculous," Anna eventually grumbled, feeling slightly offended. "So just because I prefer using my left hand, I've been possessed by the devil?"

"I'm not saying I agree, Princess Anna," Gerda confirmed in a placating tone. "But yes, there are some who would believe that, especially amongst the religious."

A sudden, disturbing thought occurred to Anna. During her discussion with Elsa the previous evening, Anna had gained the impression that Elsa was mainly worried about the reaction from the nobility and the people due to the damage caused by the magical blizzard she had accidentally unleashed upon Arendelle. However, if there were people willing to condemn others for something as innocent and harmless as writing with their left hands, how would they view Elsa's more magical abilities?

In a moment of clarity, Anna remembered the words she had thrown in Elsa's face in the middle of their argument in the ballroom during the coronation ball, moments before Elsa's vice-like control over her power slipped. In her outburst, she had demanded to know why Elsa had shut the world out. She had refused Elsa's desperate request for a private discussion and had instead challenged her in the most public way possible to reveal her greatest fear.

As a worried frown crept over her face, Anna realised she now knew the answer to both those questions. For the first time in forever, Anna hoped that her sister was wrong, as the alternative was truly horrifying.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

Firstly and most importantly, a huge thank you to **DrNg** , **Elsa Tomago** and **Protoestrella1** for your positive reviews and suggestions for Chapter 1, and thank you also to everyone else who has read and/or followed this fic. The counter on the "Movies" category list suggests there's over 10,000 different _Frozen_ fanfics hosted on this site alone, so the fact that some of you have chosen to read and review the work of a first-time fanfic author is extremely humbling.

I've also taken suggestions on board and made some minor alterations to the text of Chapter 1 for historical accuracy and to correct my admittedly rusty French. I also removed an errant word that somehow crept through the editing/polishing process.

I do realise there's been a bit of a delay between chapters. There's really not much to be said, really - I suffered a bad case of writer's block that led to me re-writing about half the chapter, not to mention I'm simply not the fastest writer out there in any case. That said, I'm somewhat jealous of the writers out there who can blast out chapters of quality copy at a vast rate of knots. I do hope that Chapter 2 was worth the wait.

As with the previous chapter, here's some explanatory notes regarding things I've implied or referred to in this chapter:

1\. Overt discrimination against left handed people is still very much a thing in the Islamic world and in many Asian societies, despite left handed people making up around ten percent of the population. While it is far less prevalent than it has been historically in Western societies (with children thankfully no longer being routinely forced to use their non-dominant hand), it still exists. The historical prejudice is still reflected in language - the etymology of the English word _left_ is from the Old English word _lyft_ , meaning "weak or foolish", while the origins of the English word _right_ are from the Old English word _riht,_ meaning "just, good or fair". The Latin equivalent of the word, _sinister_ , has obvious connotations in English, too (as do its derivatives in many Latin-derived languages). The preference for the right hand is also reflected in culture - the honoured position at a table is to the right of the host, a trusted advisor is known as a "right hand" or "right hand man" and military personnel salute with their right hands.

On the other hand, left handed people are still forced to conform to a right-handed world, purely through design - scissors and can-openers are an obvious example, but even things like analogue watches (the adjustment dial is always on the right, making it difficult for a left handed person to adjust the time/date when wearing the watch on their non-dominant hand), automated teller machines (the card slot is always on the right) and corded telephones (the receiver is always cabled on the left and usually placed left-of-centre, leaving the right hand free to dial) reflect this design bias.

2\. Continuing on the theme of handedness, it's never been confirmed by the animators whether Anna or Elsa _are_ actually left handed, although there's some support in the movie to support the theory. Although the internet seems to have latched onto the theory that Elsa is left-handed, Anna's hand preference seems to be more obvious, at least to this author - she swings Kristoff's lute in a perfect recreation of a left-handed tennis player's two-handed backhand, she whacks Oaken's sign and opens his shop door with her left hand, and then she throws the snowball at Marshmallow with her left hand. For what it's worth, Anna also grabs most of her gifts in _Frozen Fever_ with her left hand, too.

3\. While impressively large, Elsa's ice castle seems to only have three rooms. There's the entrance hallway with the fountain, the room with the balcony where the fight with the Duke of Weselton's men takes place, and a third, unidentified room on the other side. When Anna chases Elsa up the stairs during the _For the First TIme in Forever (Reprise)_ sequence, you can clearly see another staircase behind her leading to the unidentified room. Perhaps it's a bathroom - Elsa hadn't planned on returning to Arendelle after all, and the palace does seem awfully impractical for longer stays!

4\. The fictional oath "to protect Arendelle and her citizens against all threats, be they external or internal" that Elsa mentions she swore on her coronation is a very loose derivative of the Oath of Allegiance that immigrants to the United States pledge when obtaining citizenship of that country. For reference, the actual oath that the Norwegian monarch swears upon coronation commits the monarch to "govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and Laws".


	3. Chapter 3 - Initial Contact

**Chapter 3 - Initial Contact**

* * *

The one thing that was becoming increasingly obvious to Elsa as the hours of the morning stretched on was that she was entirely ungifted when it came to the finer points of the art of conversation. While she had little trouble following the multiple conversational threads that had erupted in the dining hall when she and Anna had sat down to breakfast with the dignitaries, actually contributing to said conversations was a different matter altogether. It often seemed to Elsa that by the time she had processed what had been said and formulated a response, the conversation had moved on without her. Or even worse, when the conversation _hadn't_ moved on, she couldn't get a word in edgewise before someone else beat her to the punch, leaving her wholly frustrated.

Anna, on the other hand, had been wholly in her element, effortlessly reading the dynamics of the room and inserting herself into conversations at will. While Elsa had always known that Anna was the more personable member of the Royal Family of Arendelle, the breakfast had ruthlessly exposed the stark gulf between their personalities. In fact, had Anna not quite deliberately created conversational openings for her, Elsa was sure she would have been rendered quite literally speechless for the entire morning.

Not that Elsa minded taking a step back, leaving her far more affable sister to become the conversational focal point and centre of attention. Over the years, Elsa had become aware of Anna's desires to become more than just the second in line to the throne, a princess in a box to be pulled out in case of emergency. During the years of isolation, with the gates of the castle closed, there was little that could be done, especially from behind a locked bedroom door. Now, with the gates thrown open and dignitaries from across the continent at the dining table, it was Anna's time to shine and as far as Elsa was concerned, that was how it should be.

Taking a back seat also allowed Elsa to concentrate on getting through breakfast without any further ice-related mishaps, something she had thankfully avoided. For the entire time she was at the table, Elsa had caught a number of the dignitaries looking askance in her direction, as if expecting a recurrence of the events of coronation night. Despite being the subject of unwanted suspicion, Elsa couldn't really blame the dignitaries for their mistrust. She _had_ frozen the entire kingdom, and had damaged a number of their ships, after all.

However, having averted another accidental self-inflicted diplomatic crisis, Elsa was rather relieved when the entire ordeal was over, with promises to hold private, but informal audiences with each of the visiting parties before their respective departures from Arendelle. While the meetings with the dignitaries had always been scheduled for the days following the coronation, Elsa suspected that instead of re-establishing closer diplomatic and trade ties with Arendelle's neighbours after the years of isolation, she would be spending much of her effort convincing them that she herself did not pose a military threat-in-being to the continent. After all, the last thing Arendelle needed right now was a potentially hostile army at the border.

With this very much in mind, Elsa found herself being led by her spirited younger sister out into the castle gardens, in search of the dignitaries Kai had spotted earlier. In contrast to the magical blizzard that had blanketed Arendelle over the previous two days, the weather had reverted to type, with a gentle breeze blowing over the fjord and the sun sitting high in a cloudless sky. Perhaps, Elsa thought, it was an omen of better things to come.

"Anna, slow down!" Elsa grumbled good-naturedly as she stumbled slightly, having lost her balance as a result of an over-enthusiastic tug on her arm.

"Come on, Elsa," Anna replied, not slowing down even slightly as she skipped along on the balls of her feet with seemingly limitless energy. "These dignitaries aren't going to meet themselves!"

"No, they won't," Elsa offered, even as she quickened her pace slightly to keep up with Anna. "But the dignitaries won't disappear if we get there thirty seconds later, either."

Anna stopped suddenly, causing Elsa to clutter clumsily into the back of her, having been caught unawares. Spinning around, Anna shot an amused look at her older sister, stifling a giggle at the unimpressed glare she received in return.

"What on earth was that for?" Elsa demanded in a slightly exasperated voice, straightening out her dress.

"Elsa, please don't take this the wrong way," Anna started, visibly wincing slightly in anticipation. "But can you at least try to lighten up a bit? You've been doing that all morning."

Elsa's face turned to one of confusion as she stepped back to look upon her sister. "What have I been doing, exactly?"

"You're overthinking everything," Anna clarified, placing her hands on her anxious sister's upper arms before giving them a firm squeeze. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you have to just do things, you know?"

"I wish I could do that," Elsa replied in a wistful voice, her mind seemingly far away as she remembered the freedom she felt when she cut loose with her magical abilities near the summit of the North Mountain. Elsa had to admit to herself that unleashing a side of her that had been suppressed for most of her life had felt incredible, the possibilities limitless.

"Elsa?" Anna's slightly concerned voice interrupted Elsa's quiet reverie.

Elsa smiled reassuringly at her sister. "Sorry, just woolgathering. As I was saying, I wish it were that simple, but it isn't."

"Why not?" Anna asked, her eyes full of curiosity.

Elsa could think of many reasons why it was a bad idea to act without thinking. Reasons that included agreeing to marry a man who had fully intended to murder his way to the throne, or riding a flighty horse into the face of a raging tempest wearing nothing more than a flimsy ball gown. However, Elsa said nothing of these, knowing that her sister's impetuousness was also the only reason her head was still attached to her shoulders.

"I'm the Queen, Anna," Elsa eventually replied. "Everything I say, or do, reflects on Arendelle. In fact, when I act in my capacity as Queen, I _am_ Arendelle, legally speaking."

Anna pondered over that last statement for a few moments, before taking Elsa by the arm and leading her through the garden once more, this time at a far more sedate pace. "You may be the Queen, Elsa, but you're not _only_ the Queen."

Elsa raised a questioning eyebrow at her sister. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Despite having ice magic, you _are_ still human, you know. Nobody's going to blame you for having some fun once in a while," Anna pressed her point, before a encouraging look settled over her features. "Least of all, me. God knows you need to live a little."

"I have fun," Elsa insisted, a little defensively. However, even she had to admit that aside from the few fleeting moments on coronation night in which she had built her soaring palace of ice in the mountains, she hadn't really done much that could be described as truly enjoyable since the accident with Anna in the ballroom all those years ago.

Anna rolled her eyes dramatically in response. "Sure you do, Elsa. You were reading some hundred year old manuscript last night, and you called that fun, too."

"That book is actually rather interesting..." Elsa started.

"It's written in Latin," Anna interrupted, raising the pitch of her voice dramatically and wearing an expression of mock horror. "Latin!"

Elsa chortled, amused by the antics of her younger sister. She had missed seeing this side of Anna during the years when they were separated, although she had heard stories from their parents and from Gerda about the mischief in which Anna had regularly embroiled herself. Having heard the occasional bang and crash from the corridor outside her bedroom door, Elsa had found those stories perfectly believable.

"You say that as if I should be freezing the castle courtyard as our own personal ice skating rink," Elsa said in a dry, deadpan tone, shaking her head slightly.

"Actually, that's exactly what you should do," Anna suggested, her eyes lighting up and a smile creeping across her face. "I know you weren't exactly being serious, but it's a great idea. Even if I can't skate."

"It's a _terrible_ idea, Anna," Elsa groaned, rubbing her forehead with her hand. If the people weren't already afraid of her eldritch control over the cold, freezing things for her own personal amusement was almost certain to result in her being run out of town. "I think that everyone would like to enjoy the rest of summer without any more unexpected blizzards."

"Who said anything about a blizzard?" Anna asked rhetorically in response, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "I certainly didn't. You're perfectly capable of freezing the courtyard without burying everyone in snow, you know."

Elsa worried at her lower lip with her teeth. "I'm not so sure about that, Anna."

"Well, I am," Anna said confidently, shooting a smile at her anxious sister. "You wouldn't be this close to me if you didn't think you could control it."

"I'm not sure I had a choice," Elsa said, looking across with affection at the young redhead before gently covering the hand Anna had placed on her arm with her own. "You can be very convincing."

Anna gave Elsa's arm a light squeeze, acknowledging the gesture. "Can I also convince you about that ice rink?"

Elsa laughed at the hopeful tone in Anna's voice, covering her mouth loosely as was her habit. "You can't even skate, Anna! But if it means so much to you, I will at least think about it."

"You will?" Anna asked in a slightly surprised voice, having expected to be rebuffed altogether. Even with the open gates and Elsa well and truly out of her room, Anna still found it difficult to adjust to the new environment, one where hearing an answer other than 'no' was now an actual real possibility.

"Of course I will," Elsa confirmed, feeling gratified at the surprise on Anna's face. "I owe at least that much to my favourite little sister, don't I?"

"I'm your _only_ sister," Anna groused, sticking her lower lip out in a playful pout. "But you love me anyway, even though I'm not so little any more."

"Of course I do," Elsa admitted, the obvious affection in her voice tinged with slight regret at the casual reminder that she had, indeed, missed seeing her sister grow from the boisterous child she once remembered into the adult she now was. "But can I at least know why you think this is such a good idea?"

"Because you're still hiding, and you shouldn't have to," Anna explained, a little sadly. "I just think that most people... if you gave them a chance, they could come to accept the magic, rather than be scared of it."

"How do you know that, Anna?" Elsa asked in a quiet voice. "Even the castle staff are scared of me."

"I have... faith?" Anna replied, in an uncertain voice. As she saw a disbelieving look cross Elsa's face, Anna continued. "I know, that's not enough. But we still have an Interior Minister, don't we? Can't we get some of his people to find out what the people think?"

" _Her_ people, Anna," Elsa corrected in an amused voice, stifling yet another laugh before continuing. "Out of all the ministers currently serving in the Council of State, I would like to think you would recognise Minister Schmidt."

Anna's eyes widened upon hearing the familiar name of the tutor that had, over the years, given her lessons on Arendelle's laws and traditions. While a kind and fair woman, Isabelle Schmidt had also been a strict disciplinarian during their lessons, something the somewhat hyperactive Anna had experienced first hand many times over the years. "Minister Schmidt, as in Isabelle Schmidt?" Anna asked, seeking confirmation of her suspicions.

"Yes, Anna," Elsa confirmed. "Isabelle is currently serving as Arendelle's Interior Minister. Although taking straw polls on the popularity of the current monarch is not generally one of her responsibilities, I'm sure she could work something out if you asked nicely."

"Are you saying that you want me to ask her?" Anna asked incredulously. "I don't even go to the Council meetings."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to do it," Elsa stated flatly. "If you'd like, I will let Isabelle know that you wish to speak to her regarding a private matter when we next meet, but that's as far as my involvement goes."

"I won't either, if you don't want me to," Anna said, visibly deflating in disappointment at Elsa's reaction. "I just thought it was a good idea."

"It's not a terrible idea, and I can't say I'm not curious myself," Elsa explained in a conciliatory tone. "It's just that if you want to do this, I can't be involved. In fact, it would have been best if you hadn't mentioned it to me at all."

"Wait, what?" Anna asked, clearly confused. "I can't talk to the Council without your permission!"

"Of course you can, and to be honest, it is probably well overdue for you to start attending some meetings," Elsa corrected, shrugging slightly when Anna looked up at her sharply. "You _are_ the heir to the throne of Arendelle, after all. In any case, you will not be addressing the Council. You will simply be meeting informally with an old family friend, who just so happens to be the Interior Minister."

"But why can't you be involved?" Anna insisted.

"Besides the fact that this whole thing is your idea?" Elsa asked, before sighing. "If it were known that an opinion poll was being commissioned by royal decree, days after I panicked and caused a snowstorm in the middle of summer, do you think people would answer honestly? People would deem me the most popular Queen in history out of fear of a repeat performance."

"But you wouldn't do that!" Anna protested.

"I wouldn't, but the citizens of Arendelle don't know that," Elsa explained, shooting a grateful smile in Anna's direction at the show of confidence. "Besides, think about how it would look, Anna. Everyone would think I was stroking my ego."

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Anna admitted, awkwardly tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and feeling a flush of embarrassment at her lack of foresight. "I guess that if we do this... it would really screw things up for you, wouldn't it? Politically, that is."

"We, Anna? I have no idea what you're talking about," Elsa replied in an airy voice, feigning ignorance, before fixing her younger sister with a knowing look. "But I doubt Isabelle would let you get up to too much trouble. I have a meeting with her this afternoon, so I assume you'll be seeing her directly afterwards?"

Anna grinned at the implicit permission she had received from her sister. "You're the best, Elsa."

As she walked silently alongside her sister, Anna hoped that the results of her planned fact finding mission would come in showing a favourable opinion of Elsa. After growing up in isolation and then having to cope with having her secret exposed in the most public way possible, Anna felt Elsa was due for some good news for a change. On the other hand, if she was wrong and the results came in negative, Elsa didn't _technically_ know that the impromptu straw poll had even taken place, did she?

As the two sisters followed the path around yet another corner, the small pond at the bottom of the gardens finally came into view, and along with it, two of the dignitaries that they were seeking. The two unknown figures were lakeside, with the smaller of the two seated on of the garden benches while the other was scattering food in the wind, resulting in a scene of slight chaos as the resident ducks competed frantically for the tasty morsels on offer.

Anna peered down towards the lake, trying to make out further details of the two figures in the distance. The small, seated dignitary seemed to be a girl with short, roughly cut hair, holding some kind of book or sketchpad. Remembering the seating arrangements at breakfast, Anna definitely remembered seeing her at the far side of the table, recognisable not just due to her distinctive hairstyle, but also due to her young age. At the time, Anna had been disappointed that she had not been able to speak with the only guest that had been around the same age as Elsa and herself, so she was looking forward to putting that situation to rights.

"Those two," Anna said slowly, desperately trying to recall the guest list to in an attempt to identify the two dignitaries ahead of them. Unfortunately, while she could place them as representatives of the Kingdom of Corona, their names remained elusive, lost in one of the darker corners of her memory. "They're the representatives from Corona, aren't they?"

Elsa squinted her eyes in response, trying to get a clearer view of the couple they were approaching. It seemed that her vision wasn't quite as good as Anna's, potentially due to all the reading she had done over the years under the flickering light of her treasured Carcel burner. However, as the figures in the distance gradually came into focus, Elsa could see that Anna was, indeed correct.

"Yes, that's Princess Rapunzel and her companion, Prince Consort Eugene of Corona," Elsa confirmed, a little wistfully as she recalled that the journey home from the celebration thrown to celebrate the return of the long lost Coronan Princess had claimed the lives of their parents. Inwardly, Elsa hoped that the seemingly happy Coronan couple had a much safer trip home across the treacherous North Sea.

"Rapunzel?" Anna asked in a slightly incredulous tone. "As in the lettuce?"

"Either that, or the violet rampion bellflower," Elsa suggested in a thoughtful tone, before her mind turned to her sister's tendency of blurting out the first thing that came to mind while rambling. While what resulted was never deliberately malicious, Elsa was under no illusions that a tactless remark to the wrong person could result in an extremely awkward situation.

"It would probably be best that you don't mention that to her," Elsa added pointedly after a short pause, wincing inwardly at the prospect of Anna unwittingly offending the young Coronan princess with a careless, throwaway comment. "She may not appreciate the reminder that she appears to have been named after a vegetable."

Anna let out a small snort as she stifled a giggle. "I'll be on my best behaviour," she replied, shooting Elsa an amused smile, an expression that was readily returned by the young monarch. With neither sister feeling the need to add any more, they rapidly approached the Coronan couple to greet them, although Elsa felt increasingly anxious about her first official diplomatic engagement with each subsequent step.

"Everything will be alright, Elsa," Anna added in a hushed tone, feeling the telltale minor drop in temperature that signalled Elsa's anxiety. "They're going to love you, you know. And I promise I'm not going anywhere."

While the unnatural chill disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, it had also alerted the Coronan dignitaries of their imminent arrival, with both turning to look directly at the two royal sisters. Having clearly been caught unawares, Anna watched as the petite Coronan princess gasped, her bright green eyes widening dramatically as she frantically scrambled off the bench. Stealing a glance at the book Princess Rapunzel had rapidly discarded in haste, Anna noticed a half-finished sketch of the lake.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Princess Rapunzel greeted in a slightly breathless tone, even as she swiftly slipped her previously bare feet into the shoes she had discarded earlier. Looking at her hands, which were still coated in charcoal, the young Coronan princess frowned, before tucking them behind her back and surreptitiously attempted to wipe them on the back of her dress.

"Princess Rapunzel of Corona," the russet-haired princess introduced herself once she had gathered a degree of composure, bending her knees in a curtsey even as her face reddened with embarrassment. "My consort, Prince Eugene," she added after a short pause, gesturing slightly in his direction, causing the Coronan prince to bow as was fitting with tradition.

Given the events of the last few days, Anna couldn't help but notice that the Prince's bow was slightly stiff and awkward, as if he were unused to the traditions of royalty. It seemed authentic in a way, quite unlike the perfectly rehearsed actions of the representative of the Southern Isles, a fact that put Anna slightly more at ease.

"Princess Anna of Arendelle," Anna replied warmly, bobbing a curtsey of her own. Reaching across to place her hand on the small of Elsa's back, Anna gently nudged her forward. "And my sister, Elsa... I mean, Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

"Well met, Princess Rapunzel, Prince Eugene," Elsa added, nodding her head slightly in greeting. "I hope your stay in Arendelle has been pleasant, so far."

"It's been great, really," Rapunzel gushed. "It's so...different from Corona. The town is so peaceful, it's like there's space to breathe and move around without tripping over people every two seconds. The people are so helpful and _nice_ , too, and even though we're just visiting we've always felt so welcome."

The Coronan princess spun on the spot, gesturing first towards the snow-capped mountains that towered over Arendelle and then to the fjord. "And just _look_ at the place!" Rapunzel continued excitedly, having paused to take a breath. "You have a beautiful kingdom, Your Majesty."

"Interesting weather, too," Prince Eugene added, his expression completely deadpan, causing Rapunzel to gasp loudly, before reaching across and giving her consort a solid slap on the back of his head.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel hissed, clearly scandalised, before looking apologetically at Elsa and Anna.

"Hey!" Anna reacted instinctively a fraction of a second later, biting back a surge of anger. As Eugene raised his hands in front of him defensively as he stepped backwards, Anna clenched her fists by her side, wondering whether there was something wrong with every single foreign prince or duke in Arendelle. Gritting her teeth, Anna resisted the urge to land a blow of her own, remembering her promise to Elsa. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

Glancing across quickly, Anna saw Elsa take in a sharp breath as if physically struck, her body stiffening as her blue eyes widened in alarm. For a few brief moments, Anna thought her sister was going to turn and run as she had on coronation day, however apart from Elsa taking an uneasy step backwards, the moment passed without further incident. Sensing her sister's uneasiness, Anna shuffled across slightly, placing herself between Elsa and the Coronan prince.

"It's okay, Anna," Anna heard her sister's quiet voice behind her. "He didn't mean anything by it."

Fixing Eugene with an unimpressed glare, Anna could see the guilty expression on his face as the realisation that his attempt at humour had backfired badly. However, her attention was soon gained by another attempted apology from Rapunzel, her voice breaking slightly. Turning to face the Coronan princess, Anna's temper dissipated immediately upon seeing the mortified look on the smaller girl's face, her eyes glistening a little.

"Hey, it's not _your_ fault," Anna offered gently, forcing a smile on her face, even if it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Does it matter?" Rapunzel asked in a bitter tone, turning away to hide her face as she tried to compose herself. "The Queen's upset, you're angry and... you both have the right to be. Father is going to be so disappointed. He had such high hopes..."

"Hopes for what?" Anna asked, curiously.

"Corona is a small kingdom," Rapunzel explained, wiping her eyes with the back of her arm. "One of the smaller kingdoms in the German Confederation. Most of our trade is within the Zollverein, but Father wants Corona to establish diplomatic relationships and trade routes overseas, too."

"The Zollverein?" Anna asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"The customs union between the German states," Rapunzel explained, before her voice trailed off. Anna watched as Rapunzel paused and bit her lip worriedly, as if debating internally whether to continue. "Until we joined the Zollverein, Arendelle and Corona used to be close partners in trade. Diplomatically too, especially since Mother's side of the family was from Arendelle. But Corona has had some internal problems in recent years, and we became more isolated. And three years ago..."

Rapunzel shrugged her shoulders hopelessly as she paused, yet again, not wanting to dwell on the accident that had claimed the parents of the princess and queen standing before her. "Father had hoped that Arendelle and Corona could start over, again. But I've messed it up."

"Well, _you_ didn't," Anna pointed out again in as reasonable a voice as she could manage, before sending another glare at Eugene. Leaning in and lowering her voice. "Just between you and me, I don't think Elsa is as upset as you think she is."

"She looks pretty upset," Rapunzel stated, stealing another uncertain glance at the Snow Queen of Arendelle, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

"I'm not saying Elsa isn't a little sore," Anna pointed out. "She can be a little sensitive about... well, you know. But you'll find Elsa's pretty forgiving. She's nice like that."

Anna turned her head slightly to check on the subject of their discussion, who sported an impassive expression on her face, although she still wrapped her arms protectively around her middle. Raising a questioning eyebrow, Anna was gratified to see a wan smile cross her sister's face in return, dispelling any remaining fears of an imminent magical blow-up.

"I'm pretty sure Elsa's alright," Anna added in a reassuring voice, turning back to face the brunette princess in front of her. Taking a deliberate look up at the sky that she knew Elsa would notice, Anna felt a smile creep across her face despite the situation as she raised her voice slightly. "I think we'd both know if she wasn't."

"I heard that, Anna," Elsa added as she finally moved to stand beside Anna once more, a hint of amusement evident in the tone of her voice.

"That's because you were meant to," Anna laughed, before snaking her arm around Elsa's waist, effectively trapping her in place while also providing some much needed support. "Are we alright?"

Elsa gently placed a hand on Anna's head, causing the younger girl to look up sharply, a surprised expression on her face at the contact. When Anna didn't pull away, Elsa deftly tucked a few loose strands of her sister's hair behind her ear. "I'm fine, Anna."

"Well then," Anna said brightly, turning back to Rapunzel. "Now that's all cleared up, you clearly have a few things to discuss with my sister. Here's your chance!"

Looking up nervously at the queen, Rapunzel was relieved to find that outwardly at least, the pained expression had faded from blonde's features. The anxiety in Elsa's eyes, on the other hand, told her a different story, with the queen seemingly on edge, as if deciding whether to stay or take flight. Taking a deep breath, Rapunzel realised that she did, at least, have a chance to make amends.

"Firstly, I'd like to apologise for... that," Rapunzel started carefully, pausing mid-sentence to look meaningfully at Eugene. "Eugene isn't a bad person, but he often gets in trouble by doing or saying things he shouldn't. Which usually lands me in trouble, too."

Despite herself, Elsa smiled, the sincerity of the Coronan princess having taken her off guard. Clearly, the Coronan delegation were not seasoned diplomats capable of speaking in forked tongues, appearing to promise much while committing to nothing at all. Besides, Elsa knew inwardly that she too had over-reacted to an offhand comment that while ill-advised, was not hostile or judgmental in any way.

Certainly, an off-coloured joke about Arendelle's weather was a significant improvement over being branded a monster.

"Let's not dwell on it," Elsa suggested, finding herself warming to Rapunzel despite their rocky start. "But thank you, anyway."

"That certainly went better than I thought," Rapunzel said quietly, her eyes widening a little in surprise as she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding as the tension left her body.

Having made the decision to get the remainder of the awkwardness over with, Rapunzel glanced backwards and beckoned Eugene to come forward, lifting her hand from her side slightly as a peace offering. As her consort approached with uncharacteristic caution, Rapunzel shook her head lightly in frustration, before rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Eugene," Rapunzel sighed in exasperation. "We talked about this."

"Look Blondie, you know I didn't mean it like that," Eugene tried to explain, before being cut off by a stern glare and a sharply arched eyebrow, causing him to gulp audibly. Turning to Anna, Eugene opened his mouth to apologise, only to be interrupted by the red haired princess before he could begin.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Anna said quickly, raising a hand slightly as a signal to stop. "Not to this princess, you don't," Anna added, before shrugging her shoulders and smiling encouragingly at Eugene to indicate there were no remaining hard feelings. Given that Elsa appeared to have forgiven the pair, Anna figured there was no reason to hold a grudge herself.

Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Eugene turned his attention to Elsa. Despite the offense he had apparently caused with his misdirected attempt at humour, Eugene couldn't help but notice that the young queen's expression had softened, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Perhaps he would get out of this whole mess without having his pants frozen, after all.

"Your Majesty, I didn't mean to cause any offense," Eugene said, apologetically.

"None taken, I assure you," Elsa accepted graciously, stepping back as far as Anna's hold on her would allow in order to get a better look at the Coronan prince. "I do appreciate the sentiment, however."

"None?" Eugene asked in a dubious tone, looking questioningly at Elsa.

"Eugene..." Rapunzel warned in a quiet, but firm voice.

"No, I suppose that's fair," Elsa interrupted in a placating tone, smiling when both Rapunzel and Anna turned to face her. While Elsa had to admit that a complete stranger making light of the coronation incident was somewhat off-putting, the fact that Eugene felt comfortable enough to do so was not entirely unwelcome. Now that she put her mind to it, Elsa realised that Rapunzel, too, seemed to be completely at peace with the concept of her having unexplained magical abilities. With that very much in mind, Elsa made a mental note to undertake some further research into the presence of magical people in Corona the next time she had a few spare moments to herself.

"Anna and I had a rather sheltered childhood," Elsa offered as an explanation after a short pause. "We didn't get out much, so I'm somewhat unused to other people poking fun at my expense."

This came as something of a revelation to Rapunzel, who'd spent a significant amount of time amongst Corona's children since escaping the clutches of the captor she once believed to be her mother. An only child herself, Rapunzel couldn't help but notice that even the closest of siblings were quick to tease each other while playing, although such banter was usually good natured and rarely resulted in anything more than a frustrated huff before the recipient responded in kind. Although Rapunzel found it unusual that Anna as a younger sibling was somewhat overprotective of her older sister, she didn't imagine that Elsa would have been spared the occasional ribbing when the situation suited.

"Not even from Princess Anna?" Rapunzel ventured, deciding to probe further.

"Especially not from Princess Anna," Anna admitted with a slight sigh, sensing that the Coronan princess was inadvertently straying onto the dangerous ground that was their years of separation and deciding to answer for both of them. "Elsa and I didn't get to see each other nearly as much as you might imagine."

Anna paused, her face contemplative as she thought back on the years where the closest she could get to Elsa was across the table of Castle Arendelle's dining hall, on the rare occasions they shared meals. During those lonely years, Anna had become more familiar with a certain white door adorned with blue rosemaling than the person who hid behind it. Despite being in reality no more solid than any other door in the castle, that particular door seemed to Anna to be as impenetrable as the famed Fortress of Luxembourg.

During the countless hours that she had spent sitting in the hallway trying to understand why it would open to everyone but her, Anna hadn't realised that the answer had been literally staring her in the face within the rosemaling painted on each of the four inset panels, in the form of a large, neatly stencilled snowflake. Now that the secret that had kept Elsa hidden away was out in the open, the irony of those snowflakes seemed especially rich.

"Or as much as we would have liked," Anna added after a few moments in a far quieter, contemplative voice, almost as if she was talking to herself.

Rapunzel blinked at the reaction of the younger of the two royal sisters of Arendelle to her question, and the sadness that had made itself clear through her voice. Glancing up at Elsa, Rapunzel noticed that while the Queen's face was impassive, her far more expressive eyes were also tinged with regret. Anna's answer had made it clear to that the sisters had been separated when they were younger, although the reason why remained elusive to Rapunzel. Certainly, Elsa's subsequent guilty expression seemed to convey the impression that the elder of the pair believed herself to be responsible.

Thinking back to the aftermath of the argument that had erupted between the pair during the coronation ball, Rapunzel remembered that Anna had seemed as surprised as everyone else at the barrier of spiked ice that had erupted from Elsa's hand. She hadn't been near the pair at the time, but having heard the story from those who had in the hours afterward, Rapunzel had been led to believe that the young Arendellian Princess hadn't even known her older sister was magical.

As far as Rapunzel was concerned, it didn't make _sense_. How could two sisters live in the same building for so long, with one not knowing the other could create snow on a whim? Not to mention that if the sisters had been separated in order to maintain secrecy around Elsa's powers, what could Elsa have possibly done, that she felt guilty to this very day?

"Well, it certainly looks like you two have mended things between yourselves," Rapunzel offered, presenting an opening for either of the Arendelle royals to take, if they wished. She didn't mean to pry, but she knew that if she didn't get to the bottom of the mystery in her head, it would bother her for weeks.

"Oh goodness no, it was never like that," Anna replied, unwittingly taking the bait, even as her arm tightened around Elsa's waist. However, there was a seed of doubt within her, one that had resided there for the last thirteen years. Even though Elsa's magical abilities were no longer hidden, Anna couldn't help but wonder whether there was something more behind the abrupt manner in which Elsa had effectively shut her out of her life.

Anna craned her neck to look around at Elsa, her eyes questioning. "It _wasn't_ something I did, was it?"

"No, definitely not," Elsa answered, moving quickly to put her sister's anxious mind at ease. "It wasn't your fault, Anna."

After a momentary pause in which Elsa watched the tension bleed out of the eyes staring back up at her, Elsa smiled back, before gently ruffling Anna's strawberry blonde hair affectionately, taking special care not to dislodge the ribbon holding the bun together. "The worst part of it all was having to send you away when you tried to lure me out of my room, knowing that you probably thought I hated you. And just so you know, I always did want to build that snowman."

"Well, you have me back now," Anna said simply, subconsciously leaning into the hand that Elsa had placed on her head. A smile crept across Anna's features as an amusing thought occurred to her. "And you've built me two snowmen in the last three days."

"If you don't mind me asking," Eugene started, his memory having been prompted by the topic of snowmen. "Where _is_ your little snowman? We ran into him after the storm lifted yesterday."

Elsa gasped slightly in horror as she realised that she had forgotten about Olaf, who was most likely walking around somewhere, completely unchaperoned. Mentally cursing herself for her stupidity, Elsa hoped that Olaf had at least stayed within the boundaries of the castle walls, and had somehow managed to avoid the Duke of Weselton and Prince Hans of the Southern Isles.

Elsa couldn't think of a scenario where a living snowman running around the town terrorising the locals would end well. As harmless as Olaf was, he would serve as just another reminder to the people of Arendelle that they had an ice-powered queen on the throne. A presumably _unwanted_ reminder, at that.

"I must confess that I don't know exactly where Olaf is," Elsa admitted sheepishly. "I do hope he didn't startle you too badly. I can't imagine there's any living snowmen in Corona, after all."

"He's a rather charming fellow, actually," Eugene replied, having taken a liking to Olaf during their brief encounter the previous afternoon. "That is, once you get over him being, well... alive."

"And does that bother you?" Elsa asked Eugene, cringing inwardly at how small her voice sounded.

"Not really, no," Eugene stated truthfully. Eugene did have to admit to himself that being the consort to a magical princess who could heal all kinds of ailments at will made a living snowman somewhat easier to accept. However, while Elsa's abilities were now a matter of public record, Rapunzel's were still somewhat of a national secret. A secret that was not his place to divulge.

"That's not really what you were asking though, was it?" Rapunzel piped up in an even tone, reading between the lines slightly.

Anna looked up sharply at Rapunzel, slightly taken aback by the forthright nature of the Coronan princess. "Excuse me?"

"What I suspect your sister was really asking is whether we are bothered by the fact that she is even capable creating a living snowman," Rapunzel explained further, smiling slightly at the way Anna had moved to defend her sister once more, as if on instinct. "Let alone freezing the summer."

"Well, does it?" Anna asked curiously, tilting her head slightly as she matched Rapunzel's gaze with her own.

"No, it does not," Rapunzel answered, before crossing her arms across her chest and raising a challenging eyebrow. "Should it?"

"I don't think so, no," Anna replied nonchalantly, as if the events of the last few days were the most normal thing in the world. "I mean, it's not like Elsa _meant_ to freeze Arendelle. Or me, even. Actually, _especially_ not me..."

"I couldn't agree more, actually," Rapunzel added with a smile after Anna's awkward rambling trailed off. After noticing an uncertain, disbelieving look settle on the young monarch's face, Rapunzel decided to address the queen directly. "Your Majesty, it's not like you did it on purpose. You made a mistake. That hardly makes you the kind of person Corona needs to worry about."

Elsa frowned, her mind instantly recalling the tussle she'd had with the Duke of Weselton's men in the ice palace, moments before her eventual capture. As kind as Rapunzel's words were, Elsa found they provided little comfort. Not with the knowledge that Coronan princess was wrong, and certainly not with the newfound knowledge that there were indeed certain circumstances where she was fully capable of deliberately killing in cold blood.

"Elsa?" Anna's anxious voice broke into Elsa's dark thoughts. "Getting a little cold, here."

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry!" Elsa gasped, snapping back into the present. Quickly dispelling the wind that she had so carelessly conjured, Elsa looked at the Coronan royals, who exchanged a few words between them that Elsa didn't quite catch. "Is everyone alright?"

Rapunzel smoothed down her dress, before meeting Elsa's uncertain gaze with a calm, reassuring one of her own. "We're fine, Your Majesty."

It was with a certain amount of dread that Elsa turned towards Anna, knowing her sister had likely once again borne the brunt of one of her accidental magical outbursts. Yet she found herself looking straight into two wide, teal eyes, as full of life as they were of love.

"I've never been better, Elsa," Anna piped up before Elsa could even get a word in edgewise, beaming up at her clearly anxious sister. As she watched Elsa let out a relieved breath, Anna rolled her eyes playfully, before muttering under her breath, making sure her voice was loud enough to be overheard by everyone present. "Such a worrywart."

Rapunzel couldn't help but let out a slight chortle at Anna's comment, which had caused the face of the young monarch to flush with embarrassment. It was obvious to Rapunzel that Elsa's concern for everyone present had been genuine, which only reaffirmed her opinion that the formerly elusive Queen of Arendelle was not a threat to anyone, despite her undoubted ability to rain icy retribution on anyone who wronged her, or Arendelle itself.

Yet Elsa's uncertain reaction to her previous comment implied to Rapunzel that there were likely to be some exceptions to the Snow Queen's restraint. From what she'd seen unfold on the frozen fjord from the confines of Castle Arendelle, self-defence did not seem to be one of them. After all, Prince Hans had moved to _decapitate_ her, and she hadn't even twitched a muscle. Looking at the two sisters in front of her, Rapunzel couldn't help but wonder if one of those exceptions had strawberry blonde hair.

"I'm a little surprised that you're still here," Elsa broke the silence carefully, still clearly embarrassed at her loss of control. "But I would like to thank you for how very accommodating you have been of my... condition. I'm not so sure the remainder of the delegations will be quite so understanding."

"That would be their loss," Rapunzel replied graciously, dipping her head slightly in acknowledgement. "For Corona at least would like to stand with Arendelle, as we once did, not so long ago."

"The terms would need to be discussed further," Elsa responded in a cautiously non-committal tone, although her surprise at the offer was obvious to everyone present. As much as she had warmed to the Coronan delegation and wanted to grasp the opportunity before her with both hands, Elsa knew that the success or failure of any agreement between their nations would lie in the details. More than ever, Europe was a powder keg, waiting only for its fuse to be lit, once more. The fallout from the Napoleonic wars had given birth to Arendelle itself, born from the demise of the larger kingdom of Denmark-Norway, and Elsa was determined that the young nation she had been entrusted with would not be destroyed by the next European conflagration.

"In principle, however, Arendelle would look forward to re-establishing relations with Corona," Elsa added with a smile, before a stray fact about the Royal Family of Corona floated into her consciousness. "Especially since I believe you are as much a daughter of Arendelle as you are of Corona."

Rapunzel's green eyes widened in surprise, before she nodded in confirmation. "Mother was from Arendelle, yes."

Elsa quickly covered her mouth as she gave a small laugh at the startled expression that had flashed across the Coronan princess's face. "Just something I remembered reading in the _Almanach de Gotha_. I trust you are aware that this makes you a citizen of Arendelle, by virtue of your mother's heritage?"

"I didn't know that, actually," Rapunzel admitted, her face flushing a little as she dropped her gaze.

"Well, now you know," Anna piped up, her voice as bright as it was gentle. "And on behalf of Arendelle, welcome home."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Firstly, thank you for all the lovely reviews and PMs. As any writer will tell you, they give a writer confidence that they are doing _something_ right!

This chapter took a long time to write. And re-write. And re-write again... And to be honest, I'm _still_ not completely happy with it - turns out that writing dialogue when there's four people in a scene is difficult, and that I well and truly bit off more than I can chew. That said, it does lay the groundwork for where I do want to take this piece, so I couldn't very well abandon the chapter. I do hope that the next chapter won't take as long, but won't make any promises.

Now for this chapter's explanatory notes:

1\. Anyone who's read my other short, _Restoring the Balance_ , will already know what a Carcel burner is. For those who haven't, a Carcel burner is a predecessor to the paraffin/kerosene fuelled hurricane lamps we all recognise today. Before petroleum-based fuels became commonplace, the fuels of the day (likely to have been whale oil in Scandinavia) were too thick to reliably travel up wicks to power a lantern. The more common solution to this problem was the Argand burner, which has the oil reservoir at the top, allowing for a simple gravity-fed system - with the drawback that they were dangerously top heavy and the reservoir blocked the light in one direction. Carcel burners solved the problem by placing the oil reservoir at the bottom, with the fuel being driven up the wick using a small wind-up clockwork pump in the base. These (like all complicated clockwork mechanisms) were expensive, so were restricted to wealthier folk. I'm certain the Royal Family of Arendelle would have owned a few!

2\. Anna and Elsa briefly refer to the Council of State in their conversation about Anna's fact finding mission - which is an actual thing. Known as _Statsrådet_ in Norwegian, it is effectively equivalent to the Cabinet in the United States. Cabinets also exist in Westminster Governments, however, a key difference between the Norwegian Council of State and the Cabinet in the United Kingdom is that the monarch leads, and participates in the Council meetings. Any decisions made by the Norwegian Council of State are considered by convention to be those of the monarch, and are known as Royal Resolutions. It is common for the current heir to the throne to attend these meetings, so Anna _will_ need to attend. Eventually.

3\. Speaking of the Council, while Norway doesn't currently have a Interior Minister, the position existed between 1846 until the end of 1902, when its duties were assigned to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade, Shipping and Industry _._ Having been renamed a few more times since, the position is now known as the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs. And they _still_ don't take opinion polls on behalf of the Monarch. As a completely unrelated aside, I _may_ have appointed Kristen Bell's great-grandmother to the position...

4\. Rapunzel is in fact named after a vegetable. Opinions vary on whether that vegetable is the lettuce commonly referred to in English speaking countries as _Lambs Lettuce_ , or whether it is instead a reference to the edible flower known as _Rampion Bellflower_. In the original Brothers Grimm tale, Rapunzel was named after the vegetable by Gothel, as her biological mother had a craving for it during pregnancy. As both the vegetables listed above are known as _Rapunzel_ in German, we don't actually know what the vegetable in question was.

5\. Rapunzel makes reference to the _Zollverein_ in her conversation with Anna, which was a real thing, too. In the period of history where _Frozen_ is set, Otto von Bismarck hadn't yet unified the German States into a single country. Instead, there was a loose confederation of independent states known as the German Confederation, which was meant to be an attempt to co-ordinate their economies and to bring the states closer together (somewhat similar to the role of European Union today). The centrepiece of this was a Customs Union known as the _Zollverein,_ which eliminated internal customs duties and tariffs charged on trade between the German member states, while maintaining them for imports from other countries outside the agreements. Corona didn't exist in reality, of course, so I inserted it as one of the smaller, weaker German states.

6\. When she gets lost in her memories, Anna compares Elsa's perpetually closed bedroom door with the Fortress of Luxembourg. Known as the _Gibraltar of the North, t_ he fortress (actually the fortifications around Luxembourg City) was gradually built over a period of nine hundred years and was said to be effectively impregnable to external attack. The demolition of the fortress (which was a fifteen year undertaking) was a condition of the Second Treaty of London to avoid a war between Prussia and France, although significant remnants still stand and are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Somewhat ironically, France and Prussia went to war in 1870, anyway.

7\. The very existence of Arendelle required me to retcon history. The most convenient way for me to do this was to have the combined kingdom of Denmark-Norway having been broken up into smaller states including Arendelle and the Southern Isles as part of the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, that were governed by the victors of that conflict (also conveniently explaining how Elsa's father ended up with an Iron Cross, which was a Prussian military decoration awarded to soldiers who fought against Napoleon in the wars of 1813, despite Denmark-Norway being allied to Napoleon). In reality, what _actually_ happened was that the kingdom was broken up by the Treaty of Kiel, by transferring control of Norway from Denmark to Sweden. Despite an unsuccessful independence movement, Norway wouldn't become independent until 1905. While I've tried to be historically period-accurate, this was somewhat unavoidable. Hopefully, I won't have to do it again...

8\. The _Almanach de Gotha_ was an actual, real publication. It was basically a directory of all the nobility and royalty across Europe, including their lineage and family trees. Some more light reading for Elsa during the lonely years of separation!


End file.
